Your encounter with Property Agent!

[Billyone]

who "play" who actually in most of the time

 

seller

buyer

or

agent

[Ronkovic]

I believe in any profession or scenario, there will always be good and bad. Sometimes its just a matter of luck or fate as some would say.

Some people get sincere agents, but unfortunately these agents have screwed up sellers who can cause quite a mess with ridiculous demands.

Likewise there are also people who get self-serving agents but nice sellers/buyers.

 

Personally, I've always believed that when it comes to property, one has to do their own work such as research and background scouting on their desired properties before shortlisting and ultimately making the decision. After all, its your money and your investment or future living space. Also, a potential buyer should be strong enough to not be pressured by hard-sell sales-talk, staging and what not - The decision should be up to you and what your comfort is. For me, no matter how much I like a place, if the agent tries to snowball me with pressure tactics or if the seller keeps jacking up the price despite me making a genuine offer and attempts to meet halfway, I will eventually just walk away from it once it crosses my threshold no matter how much I like the place. When I'm making an offer for a place, I will usually just be up front and state my ideal price and have the agent communicate it to the seller. To me, its take it or leave it. If they ask for something higher or want to meet halfway, I will re-evaluate whether I am willing to meet at that price and if so, its a done deal. If their demands are too high or unrealistic, I just move on to negotiating for another unit on my shortlist and ranked preference.

 

When dealing with buyers, I usually suss the buyers out to see what sort of people and character they're like. Perhaps I've been blessed in the sense that most of the buyers I've dealt with are nice people. There are some low ballers but it doesn't matter to me since they don't figure in my consideration anyhow. For any of my homes, I usually am directly involved in the decor and renovation of the place so I actually do end up helping the agent bring prospective buyers for a short 'tour' of the property and give them more details about the quality of materials used, special features, time frame of reno etc. Somehow I feel it adds a personalised touch and those buyers who are nice and sincere do appreciate it coming from the owner. Some co-broke agents and buyers actually think I'm the agent! To me I just believe since its my place and I know it inside out, I might as well be open about it as it will benefit the buyer, especially if he's buying to live in it. And I always believe in being frank about any faults or shortcomings of the place - whether its any wear-and-tear that would potentially need replacement or even the crowding of the car park at certain hours. In terms of final price, to me, I'm not so much a believer of haggling, as long as my minimum reserve is met, the price is realistic and the buyer is cool or genuine, I will let it go. I just hate the hassle of haggling over a few hundreds or a couple of thousand which may sometimes see you lose the buyer anyhow.

 

In the end I guess sincerity and win-win mindset coupled with realistic expectations works. And of course, meeting the right people who see things the same way.

[Latka]

It was his mistake to reduced the number of flats built in the past then has lead to this crisis

 

 

 

 

Business Times - 26 Jul 2010

 

HDB resale prices should stabilise in a year or so: Mah

 

By EMILYN YAP

 

(SINGAPORE) Prices of resale flats should stabilise in a year or so as the Housing & Development Board (HDB) releases a record number of new flats into the market.

 

This was according to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who spoke on the sidelines of HDB's 50th anniversary celebrations at Tampines yesterday.

 

Resale flat prices have been climbing in the last few quarters and they rose 4.1 per cent in Q2 from Q1 to a new high.

 

There is an 'imbalance' in the resale flat market, Mr Mah said. With the economy doing well, demand for resale flats from both first-time buyers and upgraders has been strong.

 

'I hope that with HDB pushing out a record number of flats, this imbalance will be addressed over the medium term,' he said. There should be stability 'maybe in another year or so'.

 

HDB will be launching 16,000 build-to-order (BTO) flats this year, 80 per cent more than in the previous year. Another 4,700 flats from executive condominium projects and the Design, Build and Sell scheme are potentially coming up.

 

It would be hard to say how resale flat prices will move in the short term, Mr Mah said. 'The economy for the first half was very strong, but all indications are that it may not be so smooth going in the second half.'

 

If the economy cools, 'the demand for housing will also slow down,' he said.

 

Accompanying the rise in resale flat prices was a hike in cash premiums which buyers pay. The median cash over valuation (COV) across all resale deals in Q2 was $30,000, up from Q1's $25,000.

 

Rising COVs are a concern but they are determined by demand and supply in the market and the government cannot intervene, Mr Mah said.

 

He advised first-time buyers to turn to the BTO market 'where there is zero COV, where the prices are lower, where the flats are of newer designs,' he said.

 

It wasn't his mistake, he did it intentionally which is why HDB can sell at such high prices now. His predecessor built a lot which was why 6 years ago, flats bought direct fm HDB much more affordable.

[Billyone]

It wasn't his mistake, he did it intentionally which is why HDB can sell at such high prices now. His predecessor built a lot which was why 6 years ago, flats bought direct fm HDB much more affordable.

brillant analysis

 

thank you

[Latka]

brillant analysis

 

thank you

 

Thank you. Let's not forget he was responsible for introducing COEs too before becoming property tycoon.

[Iisterry]

So it seems that alot of MCFers are property agents.

 

However, I urge most to exercise restrain in unnecessary flaming or taking of sides. This TS has a habit of starting highly controversial topics, pretending to take or relate to a side and instigate flame wars. If you have been reading MCF or happened to browse his topics, you would have noticed it and he doesn't appear to have much in-depth knowledge about issues.

 

It isn't about profession. Its about people.

 

There is a book which goes by the title of "Freakonomics" or something. I believe the housing and education industry are highlighted inside.

 

Noteworthy mentions;

 

#1 Agent's own properties are generally transacted at a higher price than the median average. They rather close a deal than forego commission totally. Higher sale price does not translate to a significantly higher commission for them. The interest of both buyer/seller & agent are misaligned.

 

#2 If you define teaching results by KPI, you will end up with teachers who only focus on delivering on the KPI regardless of relevancy/ethics. Sounds similar to our governance?

 

CNA forum had a topic which ended up in most property agents relating their experience. They have a relatively high burn rate of capital/expense. Those agents earning multi-millions are the result of survivorship bias and not the industry trend.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Iisterry

[Optix]

May I add another advice to forumers in the market for property. As a buyer, you will need to do your own homework. The caveats lodged and recent transaction prices are all freely avaliable on the Internet. Arm yourself with these info, set your budget, and be firm when meeting agents. If the agent is not professional, or the seller is unreasonable, just move on.

[Iisterry]

"It's in the interest of buyers to have low COVs, but it's in the interest of sellers who own the flats to have high COVs.

 

"So, between these two groups, we must let them fight it out. The Government is not able to settle or fix COVs to say that it should be this or this figure," he said.

 

"The Government prefers not to interfere. But we can interfere in the supply. This is something we can control.

 

"And I say again, we're going to push out enough flats for first-timers. That's the promise we've made, and that's the promise we intend to keep."

 

-National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan

[Jp66]

Hope this can improve change property agent's image.....

 

S'pore real estate firms axe thousands of agents ahead of new MND regulations

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1071807/1/.html

 

SINGAPORE: Real estate firms in Singapore have axed thousands of agents, ahead of the regulatory framework to be implemented by the National Development Ministry.

 

The framework seeks to professionalise the industry, with the introduction of a new statutory board, known as the Council for Estate Agencies, and enhanced regulatory guidelines.

 

Channel NewsAsia understands that a Bill for the framework could be introduced in Parliament as early as October.

 

When contacted, the Ministry would only say that a Bill will be introduced in the second half of this year, with the Council operational by year-end.

 

Director of Dennis Wee Group, Chris Koh said: "It's going to be difficult for agents with a full-time job while moonlighting as an agent. Because the moment the employer goes into this public registry, the employer will know that you are an agent, and you stand to lose your existing full-time job."

 

Earlier this month, Dennis Wee Group's (DWG) housing agents were called back to their office to update their personal information and be briefed on the requirements of the new regulatory framework. The information collected was then submitted to the National Development Ministry, to be part of a new central registry of all agents.

 

1,500 of 5,000 agents were axed as a result of the exercise - mostly inactive or part-time staff.

 

Under the new guidelines, agents will also be required to pass a mandatory industry examination. Only those who already have industry certification will be exempted.

 

Rather than wait for the new examination, DWG has asked all its agents to get themselves certified with either the Certified Estate Agent Course or the Common Examination for Salespersons.

 

Another firm, PropNex, terminated 1,200 agents at the start of this year, either because they were inactive or unwilling to take up personal indemnity insurance.

 

The insurance covers any financial liabilities arising from housing transactions.

 

Agents associated with money-lending were also released.

 

CEO of PropNex, Mohd Ismail said: "Any PropNex agent who has a money-lending licence will not be allowed to practice. He or she will have to make a decision, because we do see a conflict of interest. We have terminated an agent who has been very active, however, he wanted to maintain both and that was not acceptable to us."

 

ERA, which has about 3,000 active agents, says it removes about 100 inactive agents from its database every month.

 

Associate director of ERA Asia Pacific, Eugene Lim said the company has also been conducting training to prepare their agents for the Common Examination for Salespersons.

 

To date, more than 2,500 ERA agents have taken this exam, with some having to do retakes for the paper.

 

HSR, which represents some 7,000 agents, says it regularly checks its database for inactive agents who are then put on a passive list and sent reminders to go for retraining.

 

There are an estimated 30,000 housing agents in Singapore.

 

The National Development Ministry has also been in consultation with various real estate firms to standardise documents used in the trade.

 

These include documents governing an agent's exclusive right to sell a property.

 

Currently, each agency has its own terms and conditions, which can be confusing for consumers.

[Acemundo]

i am not saying all are like that. but if the agency training already include such lesson like persuading the client to accept lower price, u can bet there are more agents that thinks more of closing the deal than buildign a long term r/s.

[Acemundo]

actually the industry is structured as such to earn more when moving volume of sale rather than depend on a few seller. that's why most of them are still very much programmed to close deals fast by leaking some selling price information out.

[Acemundo]

so far by my estimate, only 3 out of 10 agents i met are into building long term r/s and serving interests of the clients.

 

the rest are just interested to make quick bucks.

[Latka]

MND's regulations are hao siow wan. As long as companies don't take action against their top performers who are top performers because of underhanded tactics, how to improve the industry?

 

There was once when I brought my clients to Human Source Relationship to complain about their agt being underhanded and wanted to do figure exercise on the sales contract, dey oso don't take action. How to improve industry standard?

[Unitek]

Over the last 2 months, i met 3 friends who have switch job to be property agents! Well, only one who claim full time as he resigned from insurance.

What surprises me is they all seems to be saying the same things...Business is good, buyer like me need to engage their service than just call seller's agents, there are many tricks other agent does so its wise to engage them, blar blar blar..

 

That really makes me believes there is a standard training material for all property agent to speak the same langauge.

[Damienic]

Over the last 2 months, i met 3 friends who have switch job to be property agents! Well, only one who claim full time as he resigned from insurance.

What surprises me is they all seems to be saying the same things...Business is good, buyer like me need to engage their service than just call seller's agents, there are many tricks other agent does so its wise to engage them, blar blar blar..

 

That really makes me believes there is a standard training material for all property agent to speak the same langauge.

 

there is....even teach you how to reply to owners if you asked for exclusitivity to market his/her place and the owner's reply is that he/she prefer to open his/her ppty to all agents rather than just one agent...

[GolfR]

Recently I just met an agent. Sharing.

 

BEWARE OF THIS AGENT FROM Propnex property:

 

Linden Toh Xuan Li (CEA: R018772D)

 

He is so dishonest and lack of professionalism. Shouted at me over the phone ask me to go ahead and lodge complaints against him. Tell me that there's no use for me to lodge a police report as police don't handle this type of cilvil cases and CEA will not handle monetary issue. So I assume that at this point of time he clearly knows that there's no way that we can take action against him so he can cheat money freely as he wish. He shouted at me and say that the delay in refunding was because we did not respond to him and did not answer his question that were brought up. Problem here is that, he REFUSED TO PICK UP ALL OUR CALLS and DID NOT REPLY to all the messages were sent to him when he told us that he will get back to us at night regards to our deposit. We lodged a police report on the same night as that's the second time he gave empty promises and the payment to us was already delayed for 2 days. When we were at the police station police tried calling him, he didn't want to pick up. We received the call from him the next day with him shouting like mad and questioned us : " why should I pick up your call? Who are you? Are you my parents? I don't owe you anything."

 

Excuse me, you owe me my deposit. Lousy service.

 

When we called the PropNex management earlier request for their assistance as their agent went MIA with our deposit, the reply gotten was telling us to send an email to them and they will forward the email to the agent and advice him to respond to us.

 

Ya right, what makes you think that your agent will respond to the email when he didn't even want to pick up the call?

 

With such management standard and poor services provided, I would advice you guys to re-consider if you would like to engage his service.

 

Guys please take note when faces such issue.

[Throttle2]

Over the last 2 months, i met 3 friends who have switch job to be property agents! Well, only one who claim full time as he resigned from insurance.

What surprises me is they all seems to be saying the same things...Business is good, buyer like me need to engage their service than just call seller's agents, there are many tricks other agent does so its wise to engage them, blar blar blar..

 

That really makes me believes there is a standard training material for all property agent to speak the same langauge.

2010 post but still a good laugh today! Thanks! Yes they are mostly brainwashed like mlm people.

Not all, just mostly....

[Mustank]

Heng my brother wife is agent

Own people